Green Card Crackdown: Trump Orders ‘Full Scale’ Review Of Residents From 19 Nations Following DC Attack
A sweeping new directive from the White House puts thousands of legal permanent residents under the microscope today. President Donald Trump has ordered federal immigration officials to immediately launch a review of all green card holders hailing from nations the administration deems “countries of concern.”
The aggressive move comes less than 24 hours after violence erupted just steps from the White House, leaving two National Guard members in critical condition.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Joseph Edlow announced the initiative Thursday afternoon on X.
“At the direction of @POTUS, I have directed a full-scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern,” Edlow stated.
When pressed for specifics on which nations fall under this umbrella, USCIS officials pointed to a presidential proclamation from June. That document flagged 19 countries considered to have “deficient” screening and vetting protocols. The list notably includes Afghanistan, Haiti, Iran, and Venezuela.
Edlow defended the strict measures as a necessary step for national security, stating that protecting the country “remains paramount.” He added that the American public “will not bear the cost of the prior administration’s reckless resettlement policies.”
The policy shift is directly linked to Wednesday’s shooting near the White House complex. Federal prosecutors identified the suspect in that attack as an Afghan national who had previously assisted American forces overseas. He was resettled in the United States under “Operation Allies Welcome,” a program implemented by the Biden administration following the turbulent U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, confirmed Thursday morning that her office is already digging into the suspect’s immigration file to understand the vetting process that cleared his entry into the country.
READ MORE: Total Freeze: DHS Halts Afghan Processing, Launches ‘Massive’ Review Of All Biden-Era Asylum Cases
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